Novak Djokovic became the first man ever to win six Masters 1000 titles in a single season as he beat Andy Murray 6-2 6-4 in Paris.
It is a tenth title of the year for the world number one, and
the gulf in class between him and world number two Murray was at times
frightening.
"I am obviously very proud and very happy to win this title
again, it's a great tournament and all the best players in the world
were here," Djokovic said at the court side.
Djokovic broke early on in the match, and while Murray almost
broke back the world number one held firm, going on from there to win
the first set without breaking sweat.
The Serb broke early in the second set, and for Murray a similar
crushing defeat seemed on the cards as he suffered against Djokovic at
the Shanghai Masters semi-finals recently.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic (R) shakes hands with Britain's Andy Murray - AFP
Instead, Murray dug deep to break back with his finest spell of
the match, then holding to consolidate after a brutal deuce game on his
own serve.
The purple patch went, however, as the unforced errors that
dogged Murray's efforts once again crept back in. Djokovic broke Murray
easily to go 4-3 ahead, and then served out the match to improve his
recent record against Murray to 10 out 11 wins.
Murray will be consoled to an extent by the fact that the
scoreline was closer than it was in Shanghai, where he won just four
games.
But the gulf in class and consistency between the top two
players in the world was at times genuinely shocking, considering how
smooth Murray's progress to the final had been.
Djokovic will be an overwhelming favourite to wrap up the year
with another win at the O2 in London next week. Should he do so, then
there will be no more doubt that he has just enjoyed the greatest season
of any male player in the open era.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic reacts during the final tennis match against Britain's Andy Murray - AFP
No comments:
Post a Comment